Volume 22
Number 7
April 6, 2012
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Keep Your Eye on the Ball! A Phillies Ballgirl Can’t Wait for Opening Day
OPEN ENROLLMENT: COMING SOON! Open Enrollment is almost here and UPHS is rewarding employees who lead healthy lifestyles! Employees can earn a premium discount on their medical contribution if they certify that they do not use tobacco products or are enrolled in a tobacco cessation program or will be enrolled by June 30, 2012. And, during the month of May, employees enrolled in a medical plan can earn a Healthy Reward Credit of up to a $5.00 per pay/$130 year credit when they complete a Personal Health Assessment and certify that they participate in two healthy behaviors. (Continued on page 3)
INSIDE Don’t Let Myths and Fears Prevent Organ Donation..........2 OncoLink Brown Bag Chat ......2 Speaking with HUP’s Leaders ...3 Shaping the Future ..................4
Phillies fans are counting the days to next week’s home opener. But none more than Alicia Anglin, a medical laboratory technologist in the Microbiology Lab, one of this season’s Phillies Ballgirls. Anglin has been a Phillies fan since she was a kid. “I would see the ball girls on the field and think, ‘That’s so cool.’” Her love of this sport extended into her personal life as well. She started playing softball when she was seven and continued through elementary and into high school, where she played on the varsity team. She also loved the fact that ball girls do appearances as well as volunteer work, which especially appealed to her. Anglin volunteers her time at the SPCA in Delaware County. Plus they have their own softball team and play against other teams, including those with the Flyers and Sixers. All in all, being a Phillies Ballgirl seemed like a match made in heaven for Anglin. But getting there wasn’t easy. She first had to submit a two-minute video describing why she wanted to be a ball girl as well as her softball experience. Making it to the second round, she found herself demonstrating her softball skills at Citizen Bank Park: throwing,
`Photo credit: Miles Kennedy
It feels unreal. I’m still waiting for it to sink in! batting, fielding and doing sprinting drills. And then came the on-camera interview with a local newscaster. “That’s when my friends found out what I was doing. I didn’t want to tell anyone but they broadcast our auditions on TV!” Next was the baseball quiz, about both the Phillies and fielding. “And they were not multiple choice. You had to just know the answers!” Round three was a formal interview with the manager of the Phillies Ballgirls. (Continued on page 2)
Heartfelt Thanks .......................4
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Don’t Let MYTHS & FEARS Prevent Organ Donation
Annual Donor Dash: April 15 There’s still time to sign up for the 17th Annual Dash for Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness, which will be held on Sunday, April 17, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Dash consists of a 5K or a 10K run and a 3K walk designed to celebrate the success of transplantation and highlight the critical need for more registered organ and tissue donors. All proceeds benefit public education programs designed to increase the number of donors. To join the 2012 Penn Transplant team, log onto www.donors1.org and register to walk or run with our team. If you have any questions, contact Rebecca.Farrell@uphs.upenn.edu or Margaret.Leid@uphs.upenn.edu.
More than 112,000 people are waiting for life-saving transplants in this country. Experts say that the organs from one donor can save or help as many as 50 people. Yet, many myths surrounding organ donation prevent people from becoming donors. For example, some believe that a doctor will not try to save the life of a donor. (False! Doctors do everything to save a person’s life). Others think organ donation will change the appearance of a person’s body. (False! There are no outward signs of donation). Still others believe their religious beliefs preclude them from becoming a donor. But there is almost universal support among major religions. At a recent luncheon for clergy sponsored by Pastoral Care and Gift of Life, the region’s organ and tissue transplant network, Rev Dr. Alyn E. Waller, senior pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church, said that giving an organ is “another side of giving, just as we give money, give time.” Donating organs helps us “make sense out of death, out of tragedy, and helps us see our loved ones live on,” he continued. “I
want my organs to be harvested when I’m done. Maybe what my heart didn’t get done, the next person will get it done.” Imam Amin Aziz, adjunct chaplain at HUP, spoke of his investigation of organ donation in the Islamic faith. He contacted scholars from major academies in the Islamic world, including the Grand Ulema Council of Saudi Arabia, the Iranian Religious Authority, the Al-Azhar Academy of Egypt, and the Shariah Academy of Organization of Islamic Thought. He discovered that, in that part of the world, “people have been organ and tissue donors for years. “It is time for us to come into the community and leave all the urban legends and fears outside,” he said. “This is a humanity we share. Saving the life of a single person is like saving humanity.” Quoting the Qur’an, he said, “Verily mankind is lost except those who join together mutually for all that is good and right.”
To learn more about how you can save a life, go to www.donors1.org.
(Continued from page 1)
Keep Your Eye on the Ball! Fielding, Appearances and a Trading Card!
ONCOLINK’S NEXT BROWN BAG CHAT: DATE: Wednesday, April 11th TIME: 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm TOPIC: Head and Neck Cancers Join our expert panel for a question & answer session on Head and Neck cancers. Our experts will address your questions during the live event, or you can submit questions ahead of time. A transcript of the chat will be available on www.oncolink.org/webchat after the chat. You can use your (public) Twitter account to participate during the live event (use the hashtag #oncochat).
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Anglin was one of 15 chosen for the 2012 season. A ball girl doesn’t attend every home game, but, when she is scheduled, Anglin said she’ll either play the foul line of first or third base, or go into the stands, a part of the “green” team. “We work with volunteers to collect the recyclables.” She’ll also get to pass out her Phillies Ballgirl trading card, which includes her photo and softball stats. Although the season hasn’t yet started, Anglin has been making appearances with the Phillies Ballgirls. “We appeared at the Comcast Shining Stars Gala to benefit March of Dimes and encouraged people to bid on the silent auction,” she said. “It was so weird. People wanted to have their picture taken with me!” While Anglin is excited to be part of the Phillies, “it feels unreal,” she said. “I’m still waiting for it to sink in!”
Speaking with HUP’S LEADERS
It’s building collaborative partnerships and having a voice in the organization. —Victoria Rich, PhD, chief nurse executive, UPMC
HUP’s recent Magnet re-accreditation keeps the hospital among an elite group. Of this country’s approximately 5,000 hospitals, only five to six percent have obtained that status. During a recent Meal with An Administrator, Victoria Rich, PhD, chief nurse executive, UPMC, described the significance of this achievement. “It’s about having an environment where a nurse is able to practice as a professional,” she said. “It’s building collaborative partnerships and having a voice in the organization.”
parking garage that’s approved to be built adjacent to Lot 51 could one day include upper floors for clinical, research and education space. The same potential for upward mobility will be found in the Southeast Pavilion, the addition at the Perelman Center that will house additional outpatient services. The ultimate goal is to move all services out of Penn Tower so that it can be demolished. Also helping the expansion of HUP’s clinical services will be Trauma’s eventual move to Penn Presbyterian, Rich said.
To receive Magnet status, a hospital must reach certain percentiles on quality measures. As a result, these hospitals generally have better clinical outcomes and higher satisfaction rates, among patients and visitors as well as nurses.
Both Rich and Harrington are participating in Shaping the Future, Penn Medicine’s strategic planning process. Led by J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine, these proceedings will shape the future of the organization for the next several years.
Being Magnet is also about being a leader in the healthcare world. “I go to conferences and hear what others are doing. Usually it’s something we did last year and we’ve since moved on to something better,” she said. “It’s not about bragging. It’s about seeing ourselves as a platform of leading where things are going.” Rich moved the discussion to upcoming construction projects. While there’s little room for HUP to expand outward, it can – and will — grow upward. “We need to give services capacity to grow,” said Paul Harrington, MSN, MBA, RN, clinical director of Surgical Nursing. “Any new construction must be built to support additional floors.” For example, the 1000-car
While this future growth is “exciting,” one participant noted that patients still have issues with basic services, like “billing, getting an appointment or the cleanliness. It’s these kind of things that take away from the wonderful things that get done here.” Agreeing that there are opportunities for improvement, Rich said that HUP’s Patient and Family Advisory Council — which comprises current and former patients and family members — will help us better understand and meet the needs of patients. “Listening to the voice of the health-care consumer is important to our success.”
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OPEN ENROLLMENT: COMING SOON! Open enrollment starts Monday, April 16 and runs through Sunday, April 29. This year is an active enrollment. That means that employees must select benefit choices during the enrollment period to receive the premium discounts. Important: If you make your enrollment choices between April 16 and April 22, you’ll be entered into the Early Bird raffle. Ten lucky winners will receive medical coverage for the 2012-2013 year without having to pay the biweekly payroll contributions! All employees should receive an Open Enrollment newsletter in the mail providing an overview of benefits and discounts for your healthy habits. Beginning April 16, you can easily access the 2012-2013 Online Enrollment Guide online (www.uphshrandyou. com). If you have not received the newsletter, please contact the benefits office at 215-615-2675.
WALK to Help Cure Psoriasis Last year, over 85 doctors, staff and patients from Penn participated in Philadelphia’s annual Walk to Cure Psoriasis, making it one of the largest medical teams in the country. This is a nationwide effort hosted by the National Psoriasis Foundation to raise money to fund research in psoriatic disease. This year’s walk will be held on Saturday, April 21. Participants can enjoy a 1K or 5K walk inside the beautiful Philadelphia Zoo. The walk starts at 9 am. Information and registration can be found at http://walk.psoriasis.org or contact Jeannine.Masalaitis@uphs.upenn.edu and Colleen.Grau@uphs.upenn.edu.
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THE
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SHAPING FUTURE
Penn Medicine’s 2012 strategic planning process would like to hear from you!
w w w . m e d . u p e n n . e d u / s t r a t e g y Visit our website at www.med. upenn.edu/strategy and offer your suggestions on what Penn Medicine should look like over the next five years. Comment on the ideas of these faculty-led work groups, who are examining key topics for the strategy: Pathways to High Impact Discoveries:
Helping Penn Medicine expand opportunities to carry out high impact science and identify common features of successful biomedical research.
Shape of Faculty Life:
Identifying new ways of promoting faculty success and collaboration throughout the work place.
Resourcing the Penn System:
Examining how changes in funding amounts and sources could affect Penn Medicine and recommending actions to increase revenue growth and improve cost-efficiency.
Integration of Knowledge:
Identifying fresh opportunities for disciplines and departments to work together on research, patient care, and education; finding new strategies to promote collaboration with other Schools on campus and industry.
Role of Penn Medicine in the Community & the World:
Developing new ways our local and global community-based programs can improve public health, attract students and scholars, and create exciting educational opportunities.
Pathways to Clinical Excellence:
Creating transformative clinical strategies based on Penn Medicine’s clinical and research expertise, and promoting collaboration and teamwork in support of patient-centered care.
Heartfelt Thanks I was very impressed by the entire Penn Medicine care system and by all of the professional non-professional staff I encountered. Dr. Chris Miller [of Dermatology] is the ultimate professional – he is a very sincere, energetic and caring physician with a terrific ability to communicate. Dr. Miller is, obviously, blessed with extraordinary professional skills…. Dr. Miller’s practice coordinator, Nichole Adkinson, could not have been more helpful in assisting me arrange appointments and in trying to accommodate my unusual circumstances, including my need to commute between Naples and Penn for care. Great environment with qualified people and a great result! Dr. Jason Newman [of Otorhinolaryngology] was also terrific and is an excellent professional. He was especially helpful to me by being very direct and clear in his communications and in providing me with an exact understanding of processes and expectations. His staff was also caring in helping to schedule my appointments with his office at the same time as my appointments with Dr. Miller’s office…. Thank you so much – start to finish I knew I was in exactly the right professional team!
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WAMS Luncheon
The Women Against MS (WAMS) Luncheon unites the Philadelphia corporate community with local women whose lives have been touched by MS to raise awareness and vital funds. Each year, the WAMS co-chairs give the Woman of Spirit Award to a leader who has made a significant impact on our local community. This year the award will go to University president Amy Gutmann, PhD. The luncheon will take place on Tuesday, May 8, from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. For more information about the event or to purchase tickets, contact Maria Oberst at 215-271-1500 or maria.oberst@nmss.org.
Philadelphia Science Festival Penn Medicine will be part of the Philadelphia Science Festival again this year. The Festival is a citywide collaboration showcasing science and technology every April. This year it runs from April 20-29. Part of a national movement to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers, it builds on Philadelphia’s rich history of innovation with dozens of events at museums, universities and neighborhood libraries. Learn more at PhilaScienceFestival.org about events and how to participate. A list of events in which Penn Medicine students, staff, and faculty are participating is on News.PennMedicine.org/blog.
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